By the thousands, though, there were Golota's fans, many of them from Chicago's considerable Polish-American community. They lustily booed Brewster's introduction. They also booed promoter Don King, except when he stood in the ring waving a tiny Polish flag.

It took mere seconds, however, for Brewster to knock Golota and all Chicago for a loop.

"I studied Golota on tape," Brewster said. "I could see he keeps his hands too high. I knew he would be susceptible to my punches.

"Andrew Golota was the only thing keeping me from the land of milk and honey. I'm not saying that I'm great, but there was Lennox Lewis and before that there was Mike Tyson, and now there's me."

This was the kind of fight Tyson used to stage in his prime, pulverizing a pug like a Peter McNeeley in a minute or two's time.

Brewster, 31, brought a much more pleasant gentleman's approach to this fight, making a point of mocking a threat Tyson once made by saying in the days leading up to this bout, "I'm not here to eat anybody's children."

He looked very impressive, just as he had in a seventh-round TKO of Wladimir Klitschko on April 10, 2004, that earned him the World Boxing Organization's title.

There are heavyweight rivals who were not so impressed with Brewster going into this fight . . . or with his opponent, for that matter.

James Toney, for example, was asked by the Tribune on the eve of the fight what he thought of this matchup. He replied: "Brewster is a nice guy, but to call him a heavyweight champion is a joke. Golota is not a nice guy. . . . I would fight them both on the same night, in a phone booth or in the Grand Canyon."

Or perhaps in Chicago, which is hoping for a boxing rebirth. Once this city entertained lords of the rings, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, James Braddock, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and more, in heavyweight title fights.

Liston vs. Patterson lasted less than one full round. That was a marathon compared to this.

"I prepared for this fight for a long time, and I can't believe it is so quickly over," Golota said on his way out the door.